All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 323: An Assault on the Senses

Chapter 323: An Assault on the Senses

Beatrice and I soared above the clouds, the wind whipping about us as we flew. My sensors were trained on the ground far below as I searched for the strike force. My projections said we should be relatively close to it now.

It had taken them some time, and we had delayed making sure that everything was taken care of before we left. As my sensors picked up the crows, I led Beatrice down through the clouds.

I'd timed my arrival almost perfectly as we met up with the army below, just out of sight of Barleona's capital.

Archibald and Daedalus flew not that far behind, but they didn't dive with us. They would circle above and out of sight for now. Then, at a critical moment, we could have them dive in from the clouds and turn the tide of battle.

They wanted to be involved the entire time, citing the fact that with me around, there would be no "critical moment" that required such a trump card. But I wasn't so sure. With the number of unknowns we were dealing with, my models were a lot less certain than I would've liked.

And I didn't mean to leave them up there unless they were needed to win. It was also nice to have a backup in case a lot of people on our side were about to get hurt. Who knows, maybe I could get distracted or indisposed? That would be simply unacceptable, but still.

The Barleonans and their demon masters likely knew we were coming already, and they probably had seen us coming for several hours at this point. But that wouldn't give them too much warning. They didn't have the days it would take to build extra walls or anything like that, nor could they call in reinforcements from further away. At least, I didn't think they could. So, all they could really do was ready the forces they already had and put everyone on alert.

No, from everything I knew, it would be pretty straightforward to get into the city, like cleaning an empty rectangular room. Once we got through the gate, though, things would be more complicated. In the city, numbers wouldn't mean as much as we would have nearly unlimited choke points to work with, and so would our enemies. Still, it was going to be a hassle.

During our planning, Arthur had grumbled about how fighting in cities was always messy. Given how the attack on the capital had gone all those years ago, I had to agree. However, that was mostly due to the mess makers themselves. I had tried to think of some way to avoid fighting in the city, but it didn't seem like there was going to be an option. So, I just had to be around to clean up things afterward.

It made my circuits spasm, thinking about being party to a mess in the making. But, well, I have learned a lot of important lessons over the years. Besides, I liked making omelets. They were apparently tasty.

We emerged from the bottom layer of the clouds with a small poof. From this angle, we could easily see the city gates closed, a rather unusual thing for this time of day. That confirmed that they'd seen us coming. We could also see the Nighty Knights and Arthur's elite troops still in the forest.

We zipped down, alighting in a clearing and heading toward the commanders at the top of the hill. Arthur greeted us, as did the other officers and Felix, representing the Nighty Knights.

"It's good to see you, Lord Void. Your timing is perfect," Arthur said.

I beeped my acknowledgment. To the side, I saw Beatrice roll up her flying carpet as narrowly as she could before cramming it down her throat. The sight filled me with pride. Truly, she was my best student. Storing equipment and other things inside one's own dustbin was the proper way of doing so. It was much more efficient than carrying a pack or something like that. I was just glad that skill of hers had helped her to see reason.

She coughed and choked as the tassels tickled the back of her throat. A few of the officers' eyes went wide with horror and confusion at the sight, but most of them had seen it all before Arthur and Felix included. After a little bit of quite unladylike language, I used my Grabby Arm to pat her on the back comfortingly. This happened sometimes. She would get used to it. She looked less than pleased at the revelation.

Just as we peered toward the city, the sound of horns blaring up and down the wall greeted us. Our arrival was announced with a possibly appropriate amount of fanfare, though it was nothing compared to my sendoff. Still, everyone's faces were serious. But this would be difficult, and everyone knew what was in store.

Our troops acted without requiring Arthur to give orders.

The elite troops split in half and streamed past the Nighty Knights, breaking into eight smaller groups. Each group had a mage specializing in barriers that they erected over the path as they advanced. Each group of elite troops peeled off to support and defend the mages as they provided a tunnel for the main host to run through.

I was kinda surprised no envoys were sent from Bee's side. Or no talks before starting. I think that the enemy should attack first before they have a chance to send any.

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Everyone picked up a quick pace as the assault began. We charged through a hail of arrows and stones that did not quite bounce off the shields but instead had most of their momentum absorbed until they clattered harmlessly off of armor and helmets with no punching power. Concentrated fire wore down the mages' power, resulting in a few injuries over time. But the biggest problem was dodging the larger boulders.

They didn't slow as much as the arrows did, and even dropping from ten or so feet above could be deadly. I turned my Sanitation Lamp up a bit, shooting thick beams of bluish-purple light in every direction to vaporize any unacceptably large projectiles. Still, some of the smaller ones made it through.

The army yelled as they got closer, and Beatrice darted underneath the gate. I plugged the many holes that attempted to spew boiling liquid down on her as she spat out several large jars. Quickly and carefully, she hid and stacked them along the portcullis in a pattern before lighting a fuse and running away.

The attacking soldiers retreated with her, and the defending soldiers on the wall let out a cheer of what sounded like victory. They thought they had repelled the first assault. I felt a twinge pity for them as they clustered over the gate to watch us retreat to a safe distance.

Their cheer hadn't even faded by the time the boom shook the earth beneath us, and large hunks of granite rained down in a shower of debris.

A shower that quickly formed into a miniature tornado, swirling toward my dustbin. I even managed to suck up much of the noxious black smoke that the impact had left behind. I still was a little disappointed in how messy this plan ended up being, but it was alright. Beatrice had been excited about the invention, and I certainly was never one to do everything for my humans.

The cheers turned to cries of alarm as our forces reversed and ran back towards the city and began to push inside. But not everyone was completely stunned by the loss of the gate. The moment the dust finished entering my bin, a wave of demons poured out of the houses and side streets to meet us, their flaming and ash-encrusted hands flexing. They let out squeals of apparent glee as they charged the soldiers in a black wave with vicious swipes and grasping claws, aiming for the weak points in armor and formations.

Skills flashed, lighting up the battlefield as our advance halted mere feet inside the city. Endless waves of demons assaulted us from all sides as we attempted to form a beachhead. Given the lack of humans in the max, I thought it was safe to assume that the demons had pretty much given up any semblance of hiding their intentions. The Nighty Knights hung back, waiting for the right opportunity to offer aid where they were needed and protecting our flanks.

Our soldiers were doing fine. Evidently, all of Arthur's training and those daily room cleanings had really paid off in terms of levels. I did my best to protect them from all attacks, but I do not particularly see a more effective way to contribute at the moment. Not without being what Arthur and Beatrice called an "experience hog."

I simply hovered above the column, drawing fire, blocking shots with pinpoint precision, firing off blasts of my Sanitation Lamp at demons, and overall picking them off one by one. But the tide never seemed to slow.

The first frantic 30 seconds turned into a minute, and then two as the pace never seemed to slow. Soldiers on both sides were tossed down, and demons poured in after us like an endless tide. After five minutes, I was worried that we'd only made a few feet of progress despite everything.

All of our individual and group power meant little against this wave. Though we were obviously doing a lot of damage, the demons were also a lot stronger than I'd expected. They didn't go down easily. If they'd been doing any more damage, I might have considered stepping in myself. After ten minutes, I couldn't help but wonder where all these demons were coming from.

I scanned the city for summoning circles but did not find any on a cursory search. At least, nothing that would cause enemies to appear at this rate and pace. Each one of our soldiers was extremely high-leveled, and rarely did they need to retreat and cycle through, but that did not mean they had endless stamina. We'd get tired eventually.

A deep thrumming vibration sent my bristles tingling. I located the source, only to find one of the Nighty Knights lifting a section of the city up into the air. The massive chunk of earth hurtled through the sky, slamming into waves of winged enemies as it crashed down in the distance. A line of white-hot fire streaked through the air as Bradley lashed out with his sword, slicing an entire crowd of imps in half at once.

Well, not all of their number had come. Beatrice and Arthur had put extremely restrictive measures on them. Every single one of the Knight here was above level 40, and from what I understood, that was pretty impressive. Arthur claimed that each one would've been a one man army in most cases. But the sheer number of strong demons meant even they were hard-pressed to completely stem the flow.

The enemy soldiers had stopped attacking for the most part, either scared off by their ineffectiveness or unwilling to side with the blatant demonic activity. The city's ruler had been still attempting to hide it from the people, based on our last reports.

After 20 minutes of nonstop action, I drifted back to speak with Arthur as we had only taken the first intersection. Something had to change.

I beeped at him, concerned. I watched as soldiers spread out on the wall, forcing back the city's defenders as we secured our beachhead. The burden of my protecting many of the projectiles lessened greatly, and the barrier mages had mostly recovered.

I finished beeping at Arthur, and he grimaced. "I agree, Lord Void, this is not going well. The demons are here in far greater numbers than we could have anticipated. But still, we are making progress. But if we do not figure out where the reinforcements are coming from, I worry that the cost of taking the city will become quite steep."

Well, that certainly wouldn't do. It didn't seem like the man would mind my help in this particular situation. With a brief shift of processing power, I blasted out my sensors as far as they could go and quickly found the answer. There, at the far side of the city, were clusters of tunnels. I spotted hordes of enemies coming up out of them, nearly at the same rate at which we destroyed them. Different shapes, sizes, and colors of mess makers scurried together in a positively unsightly heap that really got me upset.

I reported what I found, earning a grimace from Arthur. "They're not even coming from the city, then. Which direction?"

I indicated where the tunnel seemed to be leading, and he pulled out a map. "That's the direction that Harold warned us about. Of course? Arthur clenched a fist. "We need to stop them."

Beeping in agreement, I knew just the right people for the job. I soared up into the sky and let out a loud, musical chime. It was time for our own reinforcements.